The Hand of God in Prophecy
By Glenn Davies & Clay Willis
God’s True
Religion
There are three very important principles that one seeking to know God and His will for mankind should always keep in mind:
1. God never changes.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
NIV Hebrews 13:8
2. Everything that God does is perfect. Therefore God never changes nor does anything He created, including His laws.
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his
ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. NIV
Deuteronomy 32:4
"Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear
from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the
least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." NIV Matthew
5:17-19
3. God’s will for mankind cannot be thwarted by anything mankind does.
I make known the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will
stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I
bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. NIV Isaiah 46:10-11
"For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and
flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is
my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will
accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." NIV
Isaiah 55:8-1
We can state
without reservation that God’s requirements for mankind have not changed from
the day God created him.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day asked Him a very important question:
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the
Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in
the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest
commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
Do you understand what Jesus said?
The “Law and Prophets” are the total writings of the scriptures we call
the “Old Testament”. Jesus did not
mention animal sacrifices or the Levitical priesthood nor did He mention any
rituals or religious observances.
Instead, He gave us the two principles upon which all those scriptures
are based.
When Jesus was asked how a person obtains eternal life (our eventual
salvation), He had the following conversation:
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and
asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One
who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do
not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and
mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and
give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great
wealth. Matthew 19:16-22 NIV
Jesus told the man and us through the recording of His words, that
keeping the 10 commandments was the way to eternal life. He specified the 6th, 7th,
8th, 5th and “love your neighbor as yourself” but it’s
quite obvious that He was referring to the 10 Commandments.
What may not be understood is that the 10 Commandments are nothing more
than a longer version of what He told the Pharisees and Sadducees above.
You may be familiar with the 10 Commandments but we will quote them here
for you to show you exactly what we mean.
1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me. (1)
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You
shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for
the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me
and keep my commandments. (2)
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord
will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (3)
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the Lord your God. On
it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your
manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11
For in six days the Lord
made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested
on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (4)
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the
land the Lord your God is giving
you. (5)
13 “You shall not murder. (6)
14 “You shall not commit adultery. (7)
15 “You shall not steal. (8)
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (9)
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (10) Exodus 20:1-17 NIV
The first four
pertain to our relationship with God and fall under the category of “Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.”
The other six
pertain to our relationship with our fellow man and fall under the category of
“love your neighbor as yourself”.
Though the
scriptures including the teaching of Jesus expound, explain and expand these
commandments, according to Jesus these contain all that we need to know to have
a good relationship with God and with our fellow man.
In other words,
these are the principles that, if followed, bring mankind into harmony with God
and bring peace, harmony and happiness to mankind.
Following these
principles is the essence of God’s “true religion”.
That is no easy
task. Though they are deceptively simple,
each one carries great depth and meaning.
As an example, consider the 6th Commandment and how Jesus
explained and expanded its meaning.
21 “You have heard that it was said to
the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject
to judgment.'
22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry
with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his
brother, `Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, `You
fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your
gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against
you,
24 leave your gift there in front of the
altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. NIV Matthew 5:21-24
God’s true
religion does not speak so much to behavior as it does to the “heart” – the
true inner thoughts and feelings that are not always apparent in one’s
actions. We may go through life and
never take another person’s life without just cause and still violate the 6th
Commandment.
We should specify
that the KJV’s translation of the 6th Commandment has led some
people into a gross misunderstanding of this Commandment.
Thou shalt not kill. KJV Exodus 20:13
The Hebrew word ratsach is not the Hebrew word normally translated as “kill” but
specifically means “to dash to pieces” and is used only with reference to human
beings. Exodus 23:13 is the first time
it is used in the Bible.
The Hebrew word harag means “to smite with deadly
intent” and it is used for both humans [Genesis 4:8, 14, 15, 25 et al] and
animals [Exodus 17:3; 29:11, 16 et al].
There are seven other Hebrew words that are translated as “kill” but
only ratsach means specifically to
murder – to kill a human being without just cause.
The point of this
exercise of examining the original language of the Old Testament is that God
does not forbid the killing of human
beings per se but only “murder”. Murder – as Jesus pointed out clearly – is
the result of anger against our fellow man.
It is an act that begins with our hearts and our minds and not
necessarily the conditions under which the action is taken.
God’s
True Religion Does Not Require Perfect Keeping of the Law
The Ten
Commandments (as expanded and explained by Jesus and others whom He inspired
over the millennia since they were given to God’s people) provide guidelines
that we should all aspire to follow. Yet
we know that no human other than Jesus has ever kept these commandments perfectly. In fact, until our human nature changes
permanently, the apostle Paul states clearly that it is impossible for us to
obey God’s laws perfectly.
The sinful [carnal – KJV, literally meaning “meat” – the
normal human mind] mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. NIV
Romans 8:7
Even the apostle Paul who saw Jesus
both before and after His resurrection and was taught personally by God and
designated the “apostle to the gentiles” was unable to keep God’s laws
perfectly.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me,
that is, in my sinful nature. For I have
the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to
do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do,
it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I
want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in
God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in the
members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a
prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will
rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our
Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. NIV
Romans 7:18-25
We should all
literally thank God for loving us so much that He does not require us to keep
His laws perfectly because none of us can.
But He did teach us His true religion in His own words as well as
inspiring the prophets and apostles and His disciples to write their
descriptions of that religion.
God inspired the
Lord’s brother, James, to describe for us God’s “true religion”:
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down
from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting
shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might
be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be
quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger
does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that
is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it
says.
23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it
says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at
himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But the man who
looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do
this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in
what he does. 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a
tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and
faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to
keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
NIV James 1:17-27
We take verse 27 to mean looking after those who are unable to look after themselves and to remain true to whatever Jesus taught, both directly in the New Testament scriptures and through His prophets in the Old Testament – all the principles involved with serving God and fellow man and not just the Ten Commandments. They teach us how to love God and one another because the last six of the Ten Commandments were put in place for the rest of humanity’s benefit. If you follow after the first four you will automatically come to love your fellowman because you’ll know that that is what God wants.
Yet because we
are unable to keep those commandments perfectly, they serve only to bring us
into a state in which we have access to the grace, love and forgiveness of God
the Father. We strive to obey God’s law because that is the only route to
happiness and contentment in this life.
We always will fail, but with faith in God we have the hope of eternal
life. With our love of God and our
fellow man, the love of God will bring us through this life with His promise of
eventual salvation.
That’s where
God’s grace and mercy come into play and God is able to save us from ourselves
– the human nature that is within us even after conversion.
God’s “pure” religion revolves around faith and love rather than the letter of the law because we are set free from the death penalty that went with that law and are now under “grace” because it was said that three things are lasting:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and
of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have
the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give
all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not
love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does
not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never
fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in
part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a
child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I
put childish ways behind me.
12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in
a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know
fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three
remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. NIV 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The
Ten Commandments Were Given For People Who Do Not Know God
The apostle Paul
explained the role of the commandments in his letter to the churches in Galatia
(modern day Turkey):
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness."
Understand, then, that those who believe are children of
Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be
blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the
man of faith. NIV Galatians 3:6-9
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later,
does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away
with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer
depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a
promise.
What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added
because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. NIV Galatians 3:17-19
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then
righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a
prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus
Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law,
locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge [the law was
our schoolmaster – KJV] to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law [we are no
longer under a schoolmaster – KJV]. NIV Galatians 3:21-25
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise. NIV Galatians 3:29
God’s “true
religion” could be seen in Abraham. God told
Abraham to leave the place where he was born and his family lived and go into a
different country where he would be told what to do. What did Abraham do? He believed in God and went to the different
country. God told Abraham to sacrifice
his son – the son in whom all the promises God had made were vested. What did Abraham do? He went through the process right up to the
moment Abraham was going to take his son’s life when God stopped him.
Abraham embodied
God’s true religion. He loved God with
all his heart and mind and his neighbor as himself. You may read of his good deeds as well as
some that were not so good in Genesis chapters 12 – 25.
Paul says that
the promises God made to Abraham still apply to all of us who have faith in God
– we are figuratively if not physically the seed of Abraham.
Galatians 3:19
tells us the law (the Mt. Sinai covenant – Exodus chapters 20-23) was “added”
because of the sins of the people.
Galatians 3:24-26 tells us that covenant was made with an unbelieving
people and that is still its purpose.
The KJV
translation is much more appropriate and meaningful than the NIV. The law is a teacher (schoolmaster – Hebrew –
paidagogos – literally, “a trainer, a
tutor or an instructor) and is intended for those who do not know and love God.
One who practices
God’s “true religion” does not need to be concerned with God’s laws – even as
embodied in the Ten Commandments.
Why? Because God promised to
write those laws “on the hearts” of His people.
The covenant that
went into effect with the death of Jesus incorporates God’s covenant with
Abraham and the “true religion” parts of God’s covenant with the Israelites: it
is the covenant made with those who share God’s true religion.
6 But the ministry Jesus has received is as
superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the
old one, and it is founded on better promises. 7 For if there had been nothing wrong
with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
8 But God found fault with the people and
said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 It will
not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my
covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with
the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in
their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will
be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his
brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and
will remember their sins no more."
13 By calling this covenant
"new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and
aging will soon disappear. NIV Hebrews 8:6-13
In God’s “true
religion” there is no need for the “schoolmaster” because those who share that
religion have already learned the lessons the law can teach. They know the law – they are unable to obey
that law perfectly but their faith and love of God allows them to obtain the
grace and forgiveness of God so that in
God’s eyes it is as if they did
keep the law perfectly.
The writer of
Hebrews (most likely Paul) was quoting the prophet Jeremiah [Jeremiah 31:31-34]
who wrote those words more than 500 years before Jesus was born. This again shows that God’s true religion has
been in effect since the very beginning, even before the time of Abraham,
because God never changes.
We’ve already
quoted the apostle John when he echoed this statement but it bears repeating
here:
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the
truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth,
but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who
is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the
antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies
the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it
does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this
is what he promised us—even eternal life.
26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you
astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains
in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches
you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it
has taught you, remain in him. 1 John 2:20-27 NIV
God’s
True Religion – Summary
As the Olivet
Parables (prophecy) showed us, at the time of Jesus’ return to establish His
kingdom there will be many people who have tried to keep God’s laws and who
practice various human forms of religion – Judaism, Christianity and others –
who will be excluded at least from the initial celebration of Jesus’ return because they did not practice God’s true
religion.
This is a
religion that puts God first – no exceptions in any area – and one that causes
His people to take care of their fellow man to the best of their ability. Its practitioners are not under the “curse of
the law” (those who violate it must die) but their sins are covered by the
grace and love of God.
They do not
necessarily “belong” to some human religious organization and even if they do,
they only support the parts of that organization that practice God’s true
religion. It’s true that when believers
join together and pool their resources and talent they can often do things that
they could not achieve with individual effort in addition to sharing the friendship
and love of fellow believers. But human
religious organizations often become involved in the forms of religions, in
building edifices and symbols, and in the internal politics and strife that
often become dominant in all human organizations.
There is no need to join some human religious
organization to practice God’s true religion because it is the most individual,
the most personal religion possible. It
is a contract – a covenant – between God and each one of His people.
It guarantees
that each one will lead the happiest, most contented life they can live; it
guarantees that each one of these people will be the best neighbor, the best
friend, the best father or mother or son or daughter, the best citizen of any
community, state or nation that it is possible for that person to be.
They will strive
for the rest of their lives to become what God made them capable of
becoming. They will use their gifts of
the spirit (their talents). They will
always be looking for the return of Jesus and will be prepared (unlike the
“foolish virgins in the parable). They
will be searching the Bible and other sources for understanding of what they
should be doing to show love to their fellow man.
These practitioners of God’s true religion are the ones who will hear their Master say on the day of division:
“Come, you who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world.” Matthew 25:34 NIV
Those
practitioners have been God’s people from the days of the patriarchs and their
spiritual descendents are with us today, but what has happened to God’s people
from the time of Jesus to the present day?
Next, we’ll begin
tracking God’s people from their Middle-East origin to their present day
location.